A Day in the Life- Wednesday

We are having a fun summer. I thought I'd document a typical Summer Wednesday.

The boys woke up around 6:30. They were both in our room. Samuel has actually been sleeping much better, and it was a little unusual that Matt had to go get him at 4:00 and bring him downstairs. Nathan gets up in the middle of the night every night and comes into our room. We set up a little pallet on our floor, and he lies down and goes right back to sleep, so it's not a big disruption for us. He's been having a lot of trouble going to bed and sleeping at night (I think we're over the worst of it now) but that's another post for another time. Anyway, they woke each other up at 6:30, and played on our bed until 7:00 or so when I got up. I turned on a show for them while I got dressed and ready for the day. Samuel pointed to the TV and said, "Woof, woof," so I turned on Clifford for them :).

7:30- breakfast. We all had yogurt with strawberries, grapes, and bananas for breakfast. Samuel insists on feeding himself yogurt now. It's messy, but not worth fighting him over it.

8:00- I cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast and straightened the house a little while the boys hung out with me downstairs. Samuel wanted to help me clean

8:30- We headed upstairs to play and get dressed. Nathan and I played Memory and then they built me a house with their tools. They also played kitchen.

9:15- I dressed them and they brushed teeth, washed faces, and combed hair. Samuel would brush his teeth all day long.

9:45- We left our house and ran to Hobby Lobby to pick up a basket for Elisabeth's room. Hobby Lobby is right on the way to the library, so it was a quick stop on the way to storytime.

10:15- We made it to the library, got our sticker for the summer reading program, and checked out a few books before Storytime

10:30- Storytime. Samuel whined for bubbles during most of storytime. They do bubbles at the very end, but they are sitting on the table taunting him for the entire 30 minutes. Nathan learned about dragons and sang songs. Samuel wandered back and forth from sitting next to Nathan, coming to find me and sit in my lap, and trying to reach the bubbles at the front of the room.

11:00- We left the library, and headed to my mom's work to pick her up for lunch. Nathan wanted to eat at Chick Fil A. He devoured his entire lunch, and then the boys played for awhile in the play area, before taking a break for ice cream. (I left my phone in the car, so I didn't get any pictures at lunch).

12:45- We dropped my mom off at work and headed home for naps. Samuel fell asleep on the way home. He completely skipped his morning nap, no car nap or anything, so he was exhausted.

1:00- Naptime. Both boys slept, and I rested too. I can tell I'm in my third trimester because I'm back to napping or at least lying down everyday during naptime.

3:15- Both boys woke up. We read books from the library for a while and Nathan wanted to play downstairs with the toys in the toy box.

4:30- I started dinner. The time after naps until Matt gets home is usually my least favorite part of the day. It's just a weird transition time where the boys are bored, and usually getting hungry and missing Daddy, and I'm trying to entertain them and get dinner ready. I'm usually relieved when I hear the garage door open and know that Matt is home. I turned on a show for them to try and get some work on dinner done, but Samuel just latched onto my leg while I was cooking.

5:10- We managed to get dinner served, and ate as soon as Matt got home. We always eat early (between 5:15 and 5:30), but since we had plans to go to the pool after dinner, I made sure to have it ready as soon as Matt walked through the door.

5:30- The boys finished eating, and Matt washed the dishes while I changed them and got all our gear loaded in the stroller for an evening at the pool

6:00- My friend Shana joined us for pool time, and we loaded the boys in the stroller and headed to the pool. They played, and swam, and got dolphin rides, and jumped in the water for the next hour. We are really enjoying having access to a pool so close to our house.

7:00- Samuel started to get fussy, so we headed home. Shana stayed to visit until about 7:30, and since we got home a little later than usual, and the boys were acting tired, we skipped baths and I planned to just bathe them the next morning. Nathan picked a movie for a "night night show", and they snuggled in our bed to watch it and wind down for the night.

8:00- Samuel's bedtime. He drank his bottle downstairs, so I took him up to read books and brush teeth. He toddled in and out of Elisabeth's room (where the rocker is), to his room to get books and came toddling back. He's the sweetest thing at bedtime.

8:30- Nathan's bedtime. He brushed his teeth and we read two books together and prayed before bed. Part of our solution to his bedtime troubles is that he can sleep downstairs in the guest room. He calls it his room now. And since Matt and I aren't battling tantrums and fits until late into the night, like we were for a couple of weeks, we are totally fine with it.

8:45- Matt and I have gotten into the habit of watching a show on Netflix at night after the boys are in bed. We finished House of Cards last week, and recently started Friday Night Lights. We've also gotten in the habit of having this with our TV

We ended up watching two episodes last night, but I fell asleep halfway through the second episode. I look forward to that time with Matt every night when we can relax together. Taking care of our two ornery boys is hard work, especially in the evenings.

I love these summer days and the fun I get to have with all my boys!

15 Months Old

Samuel,
You are 15 months old! We've been having a great summer together! Your learning and comprehension continues to grow at astounding rates. You change and grow up a little every day.

You are becoming more verbal and saying new words all the time. Some new words this month are "book", "bottle" (bah bah), "duck", "rock", and your new favorite, "uh oh"

You say it whenever you drop (or throw) anything.  You are also starting to make animal sounds. You can tell us what sound a dog, cow, and duck make and you always love to roar like a dinosaur. You are interested in ducks, and point to everything that could resemble a duck and call it a duck.

 You love to eat and are constantly bringing me food out of the pantry begging for snacks. I know you would eat all day if we would let you. You are always the last one finished eating at meal times, and you never turn down food. It's pretty cute when you come waddling up to me with an empty bowl and a box of animal crackers.

You are still getting a bottle of milk at bedtime. The other night you pointed to the fridge, and said bottle, and as soon as I handed it to you, you pointed upstairs and said, "rock, rock." Sweet boy, I love rocking you as much as you do.

Your favorite things right now are horsy rides from Daddy (or anything that involves him playing with you). You are certainly a Daddy's boy, and cry most days when he leaves for work. You also love books. You're constantly bringing me books to read to you, and are finally able to sit still and look at them while I read (most of the time). You've also been enjoying baths lately and throw a fit when I make you get out. You love to be outside playing or riding in your stroller. We catch you all the time climbing in your stroller wanting to go for a walk.

And we are all loving our neighborhood swimming pool. You splash and play and enjoy being pulled around in your boat. You are a water baby for sure. Unlike your brother, you never seem to mind getting water in your eyes.

You still take two naps per day usually around 10:00 and around 1:30 and 2:00 and are sleeping from about 8:00-6:30 or 7:00 at night. About half the time you end up in our bed around 4:00 or 5:00, but we're used to it now.

You got two bottom molars this month (5/21 and 6/4). I think you have more teeth on the way though based on your behavior lately and the amount of drool coming from you. You are wearing 18 month clothes, a size 4 diaper, and size 5 shoe. You weigh 24lbs 13 oz (50%) and are 31in long (50%). You still have a big head. 19.25in (75%).

You and Nathan are starting to play together a lot more. You like to play ring around the rosies and chase each other and wrestle and have "concerts" together playing instruments and singing. The other night you both had squirt guns and were pretending to be pirates having a sword fight. The laughter and play lasted for close to 20 minutes. It's one of the best things in the world watching you two be best friends.

We love you sweet boy!

Weekend with Friends

We've been having a busy and fun June! After the boys and I got home from our week in Weatherford on Friday, we quickly unpacked and got things ready for a fun weekend with some precious friends. The Evettts came on Saturday afternoon for a fun weekend visit. We have missed them so much since they moved, and even though we seem them occasionally since they live close to Weatherford, it had been a long time since we got to spend a lot of quality time with them. We were so excited for their visit. Nathan couldn't wait to play trains with Carter all weekend. The Millers joined us for the visit too.

They made it into town Saturday afternoon, and we visited, watched the boys play, and ate dinner. Nathan loved having a buddy his size to do everything with.

They hadn't been here long at all before there were train tracks set up all over our house!

We met the Evetts four years ago, back before any of us had kids, and we laughed all weekend about how different it was then. We would stay up late playing games, and now we were staying up late playing trains and putting little ones to bed. It was crazy with five kids in our house, but I'm embracing the craziness of this season of life. I know that I'll blink and our kids will be older and playing upstairs by themselves wanting to be left alone. We'll be back to playing games, but I'm sure we will talk about how much we miss the chaos of these years.

We got a test run on bathing three kids in our bathtub. They all fit!

Sunday after church and lunch, we managed to get 4 of the 5 kids down for naps, and had a little quiet time to at least play one game. The Evetts are some of our favorite people to play games with, so I was glad we could find a little time to play. I made Matt take a picture to document that we actually managed to get one game in :)

We spent a lot of time Sunday evening upstairs in the play room watching the kids play and visiting. When we bought our house a few months ago, these were the moments I was imagining. I love the space we have for the kids to play and that everyone felt comfortable and had space to make themselves at home. I also love the opportunity to host our friends and family and help them feel welcome in our home. It was a great night.

We were sad to say goodbye to our friends on Monday but are looking forward to getting together with them again. It's funny how often I think that I miss our friends so much more when they leave after a visit. I think I realize how much they add to our lives and are extra sad when that time is over.

Bible School 2014

The boys and I  spent last week in Weatherford, so the boys could attend Vacation Bible School at my grandparents' church. We came last year too, and it has been a fun tradition that we all look forward too.

The week  actually started out pretty terribly, when I got sick with food poisoning while driving on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, I was close to Weatherford, and once I made it, it was nice to have help with the kids, while I weathered the sickness. I was feeling much better by Monday, and I was thankful to be able to enjoy the fun week without being sick.

Our church in Tulsa doesn't do a VBS, so I was excited for the boys to get to experience going. Nathan just loved it. He was so excited to go every morning. He got to play outside, eat snacks, do crafts, and play with all sorts of new toys. He was really sad on Friday when it was over. Samuel seemed to have a good time too. He was only three months old last year, so this was his first year to attend. He enjoyed the extra spoiling and playing outside.

We kept busy all week visiting with family and friends. On Monday afternoon, my cousin and her family came out for the day, so we got to meet her baby boy and watch the cousins play. Grandaddy sure enjoyed loving on all three of his great grandsons, and it was fun to visit with Lindsey and Jeff. It had been a long time since we had last seen each other.

Tuesday afternoon, we left Samuel with Granny and Grandaddy, and drove to Cordell to visit the Evetts. Nathan and Carter played together for most of the afternoon, while Mindy and I got a chance to visit. It was a fun visit.

That evening, Nathan and I had a mommy/son date to the snow cone stand.

We had lunch and playtime with more cousins at Momoo's house on Wednesday. No visit to her house is complete without chocolate cake. Her cake is probably my very favorite.

Some of my cousins and their kids joined us, and Momoo's house was full of Little Ones.

Nathan had the best time playing with his cousins. I wish they lived closer.

While the boys were at Bible school in the mornings, I got a little time to myself, which I enjoyed. I read and relaxed and visited with people at church. It was a nice break. Granny and Grandaddy are so good to take care of the boys. They kept Samuel in their room all week and got up with him at night and in the early mornings.

In the evenings, the boys also got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Sydney came to visit on Thursday. They weren't lacking any attention during the week.

Those sweet brothers love each other so much. I loved picking Samuel up at the end of the day. I'd tell him it was time to go get Nathan, and he would run up to him the minute he saw him and give him a big hug. It's special to get to watch their relationship.

It was raining on Friday morning when I dropped the boys off, and Nathan told me that if it kept raining, we'd have to stay in Weatherford. I don't think he was ready to leave :). He would have stayed another week if he could have.

I sure treasure the relationship I have with my grandparents and the way they love my kids. Spending the week with them was certainly a special time. Granny has already informed us that we'll be coming back next year. It's crazy that we'll be adding a baby girl to the craziness for VBS in 2015!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

A couple of weeks ago, my parents treated all of us to a fun night at a Driller's baseball game. We all had a great time. I didn't know how the boys would do staying up so late past their normal bedtimes, but they were really good. We are all looking forward to going back soon.

We went out to dinner right before the game, but the minute we sat down in our seats, Nathan told us he needed a snack. Grammy and Papa Joe were happy to spoil him all evening with ice cream, cracker jacks and peanuts. 

The boys were so excited to meet Hornsby. Nathan had been talking about him all day before the game, and Samuel was just smitten with him the whole night.

We took a break half way through and let the boys play at the playground for a bit. It was crowded with older kids, but our boys didn't mind. They would have stayed and played the whole night.

We stayed all the way through the end of the game and watched the fireworks after the game was over. It was worth the wait to see the fireworks. Nathan is still talking about them.

We are loving making these sweet summer memories with our boys!